UMKC, Microbiology, Exam 1 Guide

Microbiology

A specialized area of biology that deals with living things ordinarily too small to be seen without magnification.

Microorganisms

Microbes or living things ordinarily too small to be seen without magnification

Six Major groups of microorganisms

Bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, and helminths. All above can be infected by viruses.

Bacteria Examples

E. coli and streptococcus thermophilus

Colony

A mound of cells that grew from a single bacterial cell

Bacterial Colony Description

Color, shape, margin, texture, and size

Mold

A type of fungi. Rhizopus contains sporangia or spore producing structure that is asexual

Fungi Examples

Rhizopus and penicillium

Virus Examples

Herpes, green slide that looked like an over-easy egg

Algae Examples

Diatoms; look like skeletons and used for pool filters and cat liter

Bacteria

All nonarchaea prokaryotes with peptidoglycan in their cell walls and circular chromosome(s).

Fungi

Macroscopic and microscopic heterotrophic (not photosynthetic) eukaryotic organisms that can be uni-or multicellular. Fungi do not ingest their food, rather they secrete exoenzymes that break down complex molecules, and then they absorb the smaller compounds.

Algae

Photosynthetic, plantlike eukaryotes that generally lack the complex structure of plants; uni- or multicellular and inhabit diverse habitats.

Protozoa

A group of single-celled, eukaryotic organisms. (not belong to animals)

Helminths

Parasitic invertebrate animals such as tapeworms. Animals are multicellular eukaryotes with tissues that develop from embryonic layers (no cell wall), heterotrophs that ingest their food. They are not microorganisms but are included in the study of infectious disease. They are transmitted similarly to bacterial diseases. The human body responds to them in the same way as it responds to bacterial diseases.

Protozoa Example

Trypanosoma which causes sleeping sickness

Viruses

Are noncellular, parasitic, protein-coated genetic elements, dependent on their infected host. Although viruses are not strictly speaking microorganisms- namely, cellular beings- their evolutionary history and impact are intimately connected with the evolution of microbes and their study is thus integrated in the science of microbiology.

Microbes

Reproduce rapidly, large populations can be grown in the laboratory. Can't be seen directly, must be analyzed through indirect methods in addition to using microscopes.

Microbiologists study

Cell structure and function, Growth and physiology, Genetics, Taxonomy and evolutionary history, Interactions with living and nonliving environment, Microbial ecology, Bioinformatics, Physical and chemical control, chemotherapy, infection and diseases, immunology, environmental microbiology, applied and industrial microbiology.

Medical Microbiology

Microbes that cause disease. Exam factors and mechanisms to inhibit.

Public Health and Epidemiology

Monitor and control spread of diseases. USPHS and CDC.

Immunology

Protective substances and cells produced in response to infection.

Industrial

Safeguards food and water and includes technology, alcohol, drugs, vitamins, etc..

Agricultural

Microbes and domesticated plants and animals. Plant diseases and fertility and animal diseases.

Environmental

Effect of microbes on earth's habitats.

Pathogen

Any agent that causes disease. Two thousand microbes can cause disease.

Diseases Affected by Microbes

Definitely: Influenza, pneumonia, Diarrheal diseases, HIV, tuberslosis. Possibly: Heart disease, cancer, diabetes.

Trachoma

Bacterial infection that causes blindness. Is endemic to cause 15% of worlds blindness, second after cataracts.

Endemic

A common disease

Malaria

Kills between 700,000; 1.2 million people every year. Transmitted by mosquitoes. Prevention of infection is through the use of bed nets, which although inexpensive, are too expensive for poor families.

Bacteria That Cause Human Disease

Only a small fraction of bacteria cause disease in humans. Bacterial infection can be prevented by killing bacteria with heat, as in sterilization and pasteurization. Bacterial infection can be treated with antibiotics. However, overuse of antibiotics has enabled the development of strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Fungal infectious diseases of human

Tinea unguium, a fungal infection of the nail bed. athletes foot, most common human mycosis. Dermatophytic fungus Epidermophyton floccosum, causative agent of athlete's foot, and tinea unguium. Aspergillosis, blastomycosis, Candidiasis, Coccidioidomycosis, Cryptococcosis, Histoplasmosis, Tinea pedis, Yeast Diaper Rash.

Aspergillosis

A "fungus ball" in an old tuberculosis cavity in the left upper lung field. The "air-crescent sign" is the crescent shaped air space around fungus ball, results from separation of a fragment of necrotic lung from adjacent viable parenchyma.

Double Stranded DNA Viruses

Adenovirus, papovavirus, herpesvirus, poxvirus

Single Stranded DNA Virus

Parvovirus

Double Stranded RNA Virus

Reovirus

ssRNA as mRNA Viruses

Picornavirus, coronavirus, flavivirus, togavirus

ssRNA as template for mRNA Viruses

Filovirus, orthomyxovirus, paramyxovirus, rhabdovirus

ssRNA as template for DNA

Retrovirus like HIV

Eradicated Diseases

Polio, leprosy, and parasitic worm diseases

Increasing Diseases

AIDS, hepatitis C and viral encamphalitis

Diseases once thought noninfectious

Gastric ulcers caused by Helicobacter pylori, cancer and certain viruses and bacteria, diabetes and the cocksackie virus, schizophrenia and the borna agent

Weakened Immune System

Certain patients are infected by common microbes that don't affect healthy persons

Drug Resistant Microbes

Contribute to the increase in infectious disease

Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s

Ireland was 8.5 million and 1 million died and 1 million emigrated. Phytophthora infestans caused potato blight.

Fungi Practical Uses

Mushrooms, cheeses, alcoholic beverages, bread, and antibiotics

Biotechnology

Manipulation of microorganisms to make products in an industrial setting

Genetic Engineering

Manipulates the genetics of microbes, plants, and animals for the purpose of creating new products and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

Recombinant DNA technology

Techniques that allow the transfer of genetic material from one organism to another and deliberately alter DNA

Genetic Engineering (or recombinant DNA Technology)

Human and other genes that are routinely put into bacteria in order to synthesize products for medical treatment and commercial use. It is used for the production of substances which used to be both expensive and difficult to produce. For example, human insulin for the control of diabetes, human growth hormone, antibiotics such as penicillin and various vaccines for the control of disease are produced by bacteria.

Bioremediation

The use of naturally present microorganisms to remove pollutants (e.g. oil spills) from the environment. Bacteria like Alcanivorax borkumensis and other microbes are the only thing that will ultimately clean up the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Microbes Impact

Microbes have shaped the development of the earth's habitats and the evolution of other life forms for billions of years. Single-celled organisms arose 3.5 billion years ago. Bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes arose from this ancestor.

Bacteria Location

Deep in the earth's crust, Polar ice caps, Oceans, inside the bodies of plants and animals

The Human Microbiome Project

Microscopic study of the healthy human body has demonstrated that microbial cells outnumber human cells by about ten to one. Until recently though, this abundant community of human-associated microbes remained largely unstudied, leaving their influence upon human development, physiology, immunity, and nutrition almost entirely unknown. Initiated in 2007, the aim of the HMP is to characterize microbial communities found at multiple human body sites and to look for correlations between changes in the microbiome and human health/diseases.

Microbial involvement in energy

Living cells require energy from outside sources. E.g. animals obtain energy by eating and digesting food. Energy flows into an ecosystem as sunlight and leaves as heat. Photosynthesis is the process that converts solar energy into chemical energy. It generates oxygen and organic molecules, which are used in cellular respiration (Cells use chemical energy stored in organic molecules to regenerate ATP, which powers work. Photosynthetic microorganisms account for >70% of the earth's photosynthesis.

Decomposition

Nutrient recycling. Mainly bacteria and fungi, recycle essential chemical elements by decomposing organic material and returning elements to inorganic reservoirs.

Characteristics of Microorganisms

All organisms, including microorganisms, are made of cells, the cell is the basic structural and functional unit of every organism, the cell is the simplest collection of matter that can live, the cell structure is correlated to cellular function.

Prokaryotic

Only organisms of the domains Bacteria and Archaea consist of prokaryotic cells. Have no nucleus. DNA is in an unbound region called nucleoid. They lack membrane-bound organelles. Usually much smaller than.

Eukaryotic

Protists, fungi, animals, and plants all consist of eukaryotic cells. The DNA in a nucleus that is bounded by a membranous nuclear envelope have membrane-bound organelles. Usually much larger.

Basic features of all cells

Plasma membrane, Semifluid substance called the cytoplasm, Chromosomes (carry genes), Ribosomes (make proteins)

Single Celled

All bacterial and archaeal cells and some eukaryotes.

Parasites

Harbored and nourished by the host. Cause damage and disease in the host.

Cells in the Human Body

10 to 100 Trillion cells

Bacteria Size

1 to 10 um

Plant and Animal Cell Size

10 to 100 um

Viruses Size

100 nm

Microscopes

Used to see things too small to see with the naked eye. (1000x to 10^6 X)

Early ideas about disease transmission

Certain foods spoiled, became inedible, or caused illness, Black plague and smallpox caused by some kind of transmissible matter, Belief in spontaneous generation.

Robert Hooke

First observations of microbes in the 1600's

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 to 1723)

Made a crude microscope to examine threads in fabric. Made drawings of what he called "animalcules" in rainwater and scraped from his teeth.

Light microscope (LM)

Visible light passes through a specimen and then through glass lenses, which magnify the image about 1,000 times the size of the actual specimen.

Scanning electron microscopes (SEMs)

Focus a beam of electrons onto the surface of a specimen, providing images that look 3D.

Transmission electron microscopes (TEMs)

Focus a beam of electrons through a specimen; are used mainly to study the internal ultrastructure of cells.

Century of Biology

1970's: Discovery of restriction enzymes (from bacteria, biotechnology).1980's: The invention of the PCR technique (enzyme from bacteria, diagnosis). 1980's and beyond: The importance of biofilms in infectious diseases. 2000's: The importance of small RNAs.

Medical microbiology Introduced

Spores and sterilization, Spontaneous generation, Aseptic technique, Germ theory

John Tyndall

English physicist who showed that some microbes in dust and air were resistant to high heat and particularly vigorous treatment is required to destroy them.

Spores

Identified by a German botanist Ferdinand Cohn.

Sterile

Completely eliminating all life forms (including spores) and virus particles from objects or materials. Essential part of microbiology, medicine, dentistry and some industries.

Germ Theory

Early belief that some forms of life could arise from vital forces present in nonliving or decomposing matter. (flies from manure, etc). Largely created by work of Louis Pasteur.

Louis Pasteur (1822 to 1895),

One of the founders of microbiology, showed microbes caused fermentation & spoilage, and disproved spontaneous generation. Invented pasteurization and completed some of the first studies showing that human diseases could arise from infection. His studies became known as the germ theory of disease.

Fermentation

Invented by Louis Pasteur

Pasteurization

Invented by Louis Pasteur

Koch's postulates

Verified the germ theory and could establish whether an organism was pathogenic and which disease it caused. They are the standard for identifying pathogens of plants and animals.

Robert Koch

Invented most of the techniques in the field: inoculation, isolation, media, maintenance of pure cultures, and preparation of specimens for microscopic examination.

Aseptic technique

Used to reduce microbes in a medical setting and prevent wound infections (disinfecting the hands and the air with strong antiseptic chemicals prior to surgery).

Taxonomy

The science of classifying living beings. Developed by Carl von Linné in the 1700's, lays down the basic rules for classification. Establishes taxonomic categories. Useful in categorizing 2 million or more different kinds of organisms (8.7 millions?)

Classification

Attempts the orderly arrangement of organisms into taxa

Identification

The process of discovering and recording the traits of organisms so they can be recognized and placed in a taxonomic scheme.

Binomial system

A combination of the genus and species name. The genus name is always capitalized and the species name begins with a lower case letter. Both names should be italicized when in print or underlined when written by hand.

Genus Name

Makes up part of the binomial system. Comes first in the name and can be abbreviated if already stated.

Species Name

Makes up part of the binomial system. Comes second in the name and is always the full name.

Abbreviations

The genus name can be abbreviated to save space or if the genus name has already been stated. Example: Staphylococcus aureus can be abbreviated S. aureus

Eight Taxonomic Categories

Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

Phylogeny

The taxonomic scheme that represents the natural relatedness between groups of living things. Based on evolution.

Three-domain system

Eubacteria - true bacteria, peptidoglycan. Archaea - live in extreme environments, high salt, heat, etc.. Eukarya- have a nucleus, & organelles.

Element

An atom with a characteristic atomic structure and predictable chemical behavior.

Molecule

A distinct chemical substance that results from two or more atoms (e.g. H2)

Compound

A molecule composed of two or more different elements

Number of Elements

92 naturally exist. 25 are Essential to human life.

Critical Elements

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur